In November 2000, Corus, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called HorrorVision, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service designed for Canadian adults 18-49. Programming will consist of horror and thriller movies and series as well as occasional magazine style shows focusing on the genre."[1]

The channel was launched as Scream on September 7, 2001 as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment and Alliance Atlantis. Programming on Scream focused primarily on horror, thriller, and suspense films and television series.

On September 9, 2009, Scream was re-launched as Dusk. With the re-launch, the channel began to focus more on supernatural and suspense programming and less on "gore" in an effort to appeal to a broader viewer demographic, in particular, women.[5]

On October 27, 2010, ownership changed once again as Shaw Communications gained a 49% stake in Scream as a result of its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media.[6][7]

On February 10, 2012, Dusk revealed through an announcement via its Twitter and Facebook accounts, that it would be ceasing operations on March 23, 2012.[8][9] A statement later announced on the channel's website stated the channel was being shuttered for strategic reasons in an effort to concentrate on "areas of expertise."[10] Corus has since indicated more specifically, through CRTC filings, that Dusk was discontinued in order to proceed with the launch of ABC Spark, such that Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct could carry the latter while complying with the CRTC's "3:1 ratio" policy (which limits the proportion of specialty channels carried from companies affiliated with a particular service provider).[11]

The last program aired on Dusk was the 1990 film Ghost, which was aired in a 24-hour marathon on March 22; the changeover to ABC Spark took place at 6:00am ET on March 23, 2012.

1Non-voting interest; additionally the voting shares of both Shaw and Corus are controlled by the Shaw family. • 2Community channels owned by Shaw Cablesystems. • 3Joint venture with Rogers Communications.Many of the assets listed above are only partially owned by Shaw. Refer to full asset list for detailed information.